Outdoor Advertising

News about outdoor advertising, including commentary and archival articles published in The New York Times.

Chronology of Coverage

Nov. 17, 2014

Largest and most expensive digital billboard in Times Square prepares to light up, with screen eight stories tall and almost as long as football field; LED display spans entire block from 45th Street to 46th Street on Broadway, and charges ad rate of more than $2.5 million for four weeks. MORE

Apr. 7, 2014

Images by dozens of famous American artists will occupy 50,000 outdoor displays from electronic billboards to bus shelters in summer 2014; are part of initiative by leading museums and Outdoor Advertising Association of America to create one of the largest outdoor art exhibitions seen in the country and revive billboard industry. MORE

Feb. 27, 2014

Vasilis Dimitriou, one of last living movie billboard painters in Europe, has been hand painting unique large-scale works for Athens movie theaters for over 60 years. MORE

Mar. 27, 2013

Brooklyn indie rock band Ghost Beach, which had been offered major exposure as part of its music-licensing agreement with American Eagle Outfitters, broadcasts advertisement on store's 15,000-square-foot LED billboard in Times Square addressing debate over music privacy. MORE

Feb. 1, 2013

New York City's Board of Standards and Appeals rules that ten signs on the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s property in Queens and the Bronx violate an ordinance prohibiting signs along major roadways for safety reasons; decision could cost agency $1 million a year in advertising revenue. MORE

Dec. 27, 2012

New York City Buildings Dept wants to remove 12 billboards affixed to elevated train trestles and stilts over railroad yards and tracks in a fight against visual pollution; Metropolitan Transportation Authority is challenging the restrictions, saying billboards generate about $1 million a year in revenue that helps subsidize commuter fares; challenge is expected to be adjudicated by city's Standards and Appeals Board. MORE

Jun. 3, 2012

Plastic signs on public property are illegal in Florida, so some communities are robocalling the advertisers' phone numbers on the signs 20 times a day until the culprits pull them down. MORE

Feb. 1, 2012

Sign ordinance passed in Philadelphia to help create a digital district in the Market East section allows developers, in exchange for a minimum investment of $10 million, to erect and collect revenue from large digital signs and billboards on the outside of area buildings; Philadelphia Media Network, which publishes The Philadelphia Inquirer and The Daily News, is the first business to take advantage of the new law, signing a lease for 125,000 square feet of space on Market Street. MORE